Archive for January, 2007

NEW DELHI, JAN 29: The DTH war in the country, which ranks as the world’s third largest television market, is heading for the stars. India’s new DTH ventures are scrambling for precious transponder space as satellite scarcity looms large.

Reliance’s Blue Magic, Bharti, Doordarshan’s DD Direct and Sun TV’s Sun Direct are in the race to acquire as many as possible of the 24 Ku-band transponders on Insat 4B and Insat 4CR, to be launched in March-April, 2007 and July-Aug, 2007, respectively.

Considering that each one is expected to offer around 120 channels, they need at least 7-10 transponders each. There aren’t that many available till the end of 2007, at least.

Each transponder is capable of providing between 15 and 30 channels depending on its frequency capacity.

Currently, there are only two satellites with a pan-India footprint capable of providing the Ku band required for DTH services—Insat 4A and the Netherlands-based SES Global-owned NSS6. Both booked between TataSky (all 12 on 4A) and DD Direct (5 on NSS6) and Dish TV (7 on NSS6). NSS6 is an international satellite with a pan-Asia presence and consists of 50 Ku band transponders.

Sources within Dish TV said, each transponder is capable of providing around 25 channels and the cost of renting a transponder is around a million dollars a year.

Due to the exorbitant international satellite transponders cost and few Indian satellites with Ku band capability there is a severe scramble for satellite transponders over Indian skies.

ISRO sources said, Insat 4B is identical to the 2005-launched Insat 4A and will be followed by the launch of Insat 4CR in August. Insat 4CR is a downgraded version Insat 4C which failed on launch in June 10, 2006. It has lesser number of transponders than Insat 4A.

With new players like Reliance with its blue magic brand of DTH services and Bharti gearing up to enter the DTH arena and the limited number of transponders available at present, one can only wait to see what happens next.

29 January 2007, MUMBAI: In the single-largest investment in Indian media, global private investment firm Blackstone Group has announced it will be pumping in $ 275 million (approximately Rs 12.38 billion) to acquire a stake in Ushodaya Enterprises Limited (UEL), the holding company that manages Ramoji Rao’s media assets.

While yesterday’s announcement gave no details on the quantum of the stake that Blackstone would be taking in the south Indian media baron’s closely held company, media reports have put it at 26 per cent. This would put UEL’s enterprise valuation at $1.06 billion.
Source: Indiantelevision.com

29 January 2007, MUMBAI: Television content production house Balaji Telefilms Ltd. will get into broadcasting through a joint venture with Star Group. The two companies will be launching a Telugu channel with Star as a majority partner.

“We will be partnering with Balaji for the Telugu channel. We will have majority stake in the joint venture,” Star India advertising, sales and distribution president Paritosh Joshi tells Indiantelevision.com.

New Delhi January 29, 2007: A digital set-top box can be yours at one-third the price you pay now. Indian manufacturers like Bharat Electronics, and TVS are likely to manufacture set-top boxes for less than Rs 1,000.

A digital set-top box is a technology interface required for encrypted television signals for conditional access system (CAS) and direct-to-home (DTH) services.

Currently, the bulk of set-top boxes being supplied in India for CAS or DTH services are being imported and cost Rs 2,800-3,300. However, the government is planning various incentives to encourage Indian companies to manufacture them.

The government is expected to re-impose Customs duty on imported set-top boxes and slash the 13 per cent countervailing duty currently being charged on all components required in a set-top box could be slashed by less than half.

January 29, 07: Zee Entertainment is planning to add one more general entertainment channel (GEC) to its bouquet. As of now, there is an internal discussion on this plan. Joy Chakraborthy, EVP, Sales, Zee Entertainment Ltd, said, “We are still evaluating this idea. It is strong on our radar. We are looking at the cost benefit analysis and then will take a decision on this.”

What is the media opinion on a flanking channel strategy? We have seen STAR India launch STAR One in November 2004. Today STAR One has arguably worked or not worked depending on what the media discussion is about. Sure enough, the channel created a brand for itself and some shows like ‘The Great Indian Laughter Challenge’ and ‘Nach Baliye’ delivered good numbers for the channel. Today, there are weeks when the channel beats Sahara One and Sony Entertainment Television also in the Hindi GEC space.

Mumbai, Jan 23: The changing content and distribution models as well as mobile entertainment devices would be the key change drivers for the Industry, An Ernst & Young survey on the emerging global media and entertainment (M&E) industry, has projected.

The findings of the survey, ‘Center Stage: CFOs and Finance Executives in The Spotlight Of An Industry In Transition”, were released here yesterday by Mr John Nendick, Global Head – Media & Entertainment Practice.

Advances in mobile technologies and increasing public expectations mean that the ‘consumer is king’ in the marketplace, according to the survey of more than 200 finance executives, which includes views of 46 CFOs, 6 from India and 140 online participants from major media and entertainment companies around the globe.

January 19, 2007: The year 2007, which has been declared as the Year of the Broadband is set to witness a new revolution in this field. Setting the tone, Dayanidhi Maran, Union Minister of Communications and IT, said, “Broadband should be defined as 2mbps.” He was speaking at the India Digital Summit organised by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) in association with CII at the Capital on January 18.

Broadband coverage for all secondary and higher secondary schools, public health care centers and all gram panchayats are some of the targets that Ministry of Communications and IT intends to achieve in this year.

January 19, 2007: The two-day India Digital Summit organised by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) commenced in the Capital on January 18. The focus this year is on two distinct areas: Internet and related issues of current and future policies, communication tools, and commerce, and mobile devices and mobile VAS.

The first day’s session began with Prof Jeffrey Cole, Director of Centre for the Digital Future and Research Professor USC posing a tantalising question “Is the online world as important to Internet users as the real world?” He posed this question while delivering the theme address on convergence, communication, content and commerce.